Courtesy The Island

The Supreme Court’s order on the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution was one that wholly supported the democratic rights of voters. It clearly stated that any move by the government to postpone the Provincial Council polls – even to have them all on a single day – should be approved by a 2/3rd majority in Parliament and also at a referendum, because it is a major constitutional change.

So what does the Government do?

The resulting action at the Diyawanna Chamber of Lawmakers was to play a crooked game of deceit, showing little respect for Hulftsdorp, and play its now masterly Game of Delimitation to hoodwink the people about its commitment to democracy and postpone the Provincial Council polls.

Delimitation is the buzzword of this alliance of these charlatan democrats – be they green or blue in political colouring – and they readily used the borderline game to delay the PC polls and go ahead with their charlatan support for democracy.

It was no surprise to hear what the Prime Minister and the Minister for Provincial Councils say about the time limit being given to the new Delimitation Committee to be appointed, to finish their work in four months. Have we not heard enough of earlier Delimitation Committees asking for more time, which could be a necessity; and do we also not know how the same Minister has blamed the delay in Local Government polls on the Delimitation Commissioners?

Three Provincial Councils –Sabaragamuwa, North Central, and Eastern, will finish their five-year terms by the end of this month and early next month. The elections to these could have been held in one or two months. But, that is not the democratic stuff this government wants. It is all for a Delimitation Delay. What a deceitful game of crooked politics they play with the votes of the people, while a pro-democratic order by the Supreme Court stares at them.

The Minister for Provincial Councils Faiszer Musthapha is certainly one who is very happy with Delimitation. This has been his catchword in delaying the holding of Local Government polls. It has now moved to Provincial Councils – what more can these votes fearing so-called democrats do, in the name of the 6.2 million democrats who helped elect Yahapalanaya, to help strengthen democracy by defeating an authoritarian regime?

Anyone in government who handles Provincial Councils knows when the next elections for each PC are due. What was preventing these persons, the minister, and other officers, as well as the Prime Minister, to begin the delimitation process much before this? Did they have to await the Supreme Court judgment on the 20th Amendment to realize the need for delimitation of PC boundaries? This is not poppycock; it is the revolting talk of crooked politics.

There is another piece of whimsy political stuff pushed ahead with this Delimitation Move to delay the PC polls. It is the mandatory requirement for 30 percent women candidates on nomination lists. No one would oppose this. But, could this amendment not have been brought earlier? What was the need for a delay? The necessities of democracy, such as the role of women in people’s representation, should not be manipulated to give a good image to those who are carrying on a larger game of cheating the people of their democratic right to vote.

The talk is big about democracy thriving today. Yes, we can see that the Supreme Court and other sections of the judiciary are not being manipulated, as it happened not so long ago. We are glad about today’s independence of the judiciary. But we certainly cannot be pleased when that same independence is not fully respected by the legislators, who use parliamentary trickery and political crookedness to take the people away from the democratic vote that Hulftsdorp recommended.

It must also be remembered that the two-thirds majority the government got, despite some of its members being abroad, and some of the JO not being present, came from the votes of persons who were defeated by the people in August 2015, but entered Parliament through the backdoor of the National List of the Defeated. That is the stuff of democracy at Diyawanna today. Those are the democrats who are wholly fearful of the voter, and will even cavort around a Supreme Court judgment, to make a mockery of democracy.

Delimitation is the voodoo word of the No Good Government or Yamapalanaya – the Devil’s Governance.

3 Responses to “The Delimitation mockery of Democracy”

Sooner or later, Sri Lanka will have to go the polls, and may even witness their parliamentarians being dragged screaming and kicking to face the people’s verdict. The sooner this happens, the better for all. Inevitable though is the fact that SL will be stragling far behind the rest of the developing economies, by then. The damage has been already done.
Such is life in the ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’. Pardon the pessimism.

DEVOLUTION of National Power to ANY local UNIT, Province or District is DANGEROUS to the territorial integrity and stability of Sri Lanka, and SHOULD BE AVOIDED.

In thee past, I have advocated REPLACING Provinces with Districts for ADMINISTRATIVE purposes under the control of the central National Government, and NOT as an ELECTORAL UNIT exercising DEVOLVED POWER to ELECTED local officials. The latter is fraught with danger given the separatism running rampant in our country as amply demonstrated by the recently concluded 30-year separatist war.

In my view, these Districts would be Administrative Units of the National Government, administered by a District Governor APPOINTED by the National Government and reporting to the EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT of the country, much like the Government Agents of the British Raj. They left no avenues for rebellions, and neither should we.

To enable less populous Districts to have more influence on the National Government than their populations warrant and currently deliver through Parliamentary Electorates, we can CREATE A SENATE as the Second Chamber of the Parliament with ONE Senator ELECTED from each District. The House of Commons would initiate Legislation, but such legislation must be approved by the new Senate as well.

The post of a Vice-President can be created, and he can Preside over the Senate much as the Speaker presides over the House.

In such a scenario, Majority and Minority Leaders of the House and Senate would lead the business of the House and Senate.

The post of Prime Minister would be REDUNDANT in such a system, and SHOULD BE ELIMINATED.

Thus, we should

1. PRESERVE the GREATER STABILITY and capability to PROTECT SOVEREIGN INTERESTS of the Nation offered by an EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY,

2. ELIMINATE the CENTRIFUGAL TENDENCIES introduced by DEVOLUTION of ELECTORAL power to SEPARATISM PRONE local regions by TOTALLY ELIMINATING sub-national devolution of power. REPEAL 13-A and DISSOLVE the Provincials Councils!

3. ENABLE greater balance between populous and less-populous Districts through the Senate, and

4. ELIMINATE ONCE and FOR ALL the current TUG-OF-WAR between an increasingly powerless figurehead President and an ambitious power-hungry Prime Minister unable to get elected as President, but hell-bent on advancing his own anti-national political agenda that is UNACCEPTABLE to the GREAT MAJORITY of CITIZENS of our country.

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